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INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
Developing and evolution of industrial engineering and 
its paper in education
INGENIERÍA INDUSTRIAL
Desarrollo y evolución de la ingeniería industrial y 
su papel en la educación
Jaime H. Mendoza-Chacón*, John F. Ramírez-Bolaños*, Hemilé S. Floréz-Obceno*, 
Jesús D. Diáz-Castro*
*Facultad de Ingeniería Industrial, Fundación Universitaria de Popayán. Popayán, Colombia.
jaime.mendoza@docente.fup.edu.co, john.ramirez@docente.fup.edu.co, ind41112003@mail.fup.edu.co, 
ind42112044@mail.fup.edu.co
(Recibido: Octubre 09 de 2015 – Aceptado: Marzo 18 de 2016)
Abstract
Professionals with knowledge of industrial processes to ensure the best performance of the companies arisen in 
order to response to the needs of a society that constantly adapts and changes facing nature. This paper intended to 
show a vision of engineering through a literature review from its birth to what could be in its future; particularly the 
role of industrial engineering in education, based on articles from authors who have already researched and written 
on this subject, whose main conclusion is that the Industrial Engineering must be more participative regarding the 
institutionalism represented by universities, the company with its determining factor in society and the welfare of 
the population.
Keywords: Education, engineering, industrial engineering.
Resumen
Los profesionales con conocimiento de los procesos industriales que garanticen el mejor funcionamiento de las 
empresas, surgieron como respuesta a las necesidades de una sociedad que constantemente se adapta y enfrenta a 
los cambios que la naturaleza y esta les imponen. El presente trabajo pretendió mostrar una visión de la ingeniería 
el papel que desempeña la ingeniería industrial en la educación, tomando como base artículos de autores que ya 
han investigado y escrito sobre el tema, cuya principal deducción fue que la Ingeniería Industrial debe ser más 
participativa respecto a la institucionalidad representada por las universidades, la empresa con su factor determinante 
en la sociedad y el bienestar de la población. 
Palabras clave: Educación, ingeniería, ingeniería industrial.
https://doi.org/10.25100/iyc.v18i2.2156
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1. Introduction
The changes that the world has experienced make 
necessary to prepare itself to face them; one of 
the ways to accomplish succeed and achieve the 
objectives is to improve people’s education. For 
that reason, the processes occurring in Europe 
and the United States as the industrial revolution, 
impacted in a directly or indirectly way in the 
changes that society needs all over the world. The 
growth in scientific and technological knowledge, 
entrepreneurship, the establishment of new 
economic policies, administrative and financial 
technology, demanded greater efficiency and 
effectiveness in education systems, it is necessary 
to train people in order to respond to these new 
approaches and give solutions to the problems.
Then comes professional people with knowledge 
of industrial processes, trained to plan, implement 
and execute programs that guarantee the best 
operation in companies. These are industrial 
engineers, who combine social knowledge, 
natural sciences, mathematics, technology, 
administration and economy. This is how the birth 
of industrial engineering in Colombia is dated 
with the beginning of industrialization process in 
the twentieth century. However, it is unclear the 
role of industrial engineers in society even from 
teaching school, thus, it is essential the role that 
education plays in it (Jeffers et al. 2004; Pawley, 
2009). Industrial engineers must be prepared for 
an industrialized society with constant changes 
in scientific, economic, social, environmental 
and technological levels in order to achieve 
competitive excellence (Peña, 2009).
The purpose of this work is to present how has 
been the trend in industrial engineering from its 
birth, its process of change, its near future and role 
in education, directing by a literature review of 
the subject. Whose main conclusion was that the 
Industrial Engineering must be more participative 
regarding the institutionalism represented by 
universities, the company with its decisive factor 
in society and people’s welfare. 
2. Birth of the engineering in the world
The engineering concept was born with the man’s 
ability; with the invention of the first tools for his 
subsistence. Civilizations like the Egyptian used
wooden trunks like a system to drag material in a 
more efficient way and with less use of energy. Then, 
it appeared in the world great developments, such 
as: concepts of columns, arches and different forms 
in the construction becoming in a big expression of 
civil engineering. Then appeared the principles of 
mechanical engineering with the invention of some 
mechanisms that used screws, gears and pulleys; 
after, appears Leonardo da Vinci designing flying 
machines; Galileo Galilei created the telescope; 
and with the new world the maritime trips and the 
development of naval engineering started (Grech, 
2001). The term “engineer” was used for the first 
time in the 14th century to reference to the one 
who operated an engine (Rae et al., 2001; Lienhard, 
2006). With the industrial revolution the field of 
action to the engineering was opened, in 1781, then, 
James Watt attained to patent the first steam machine 
, the ancient sources of energy were incorporated 
to its systems but this did not attain to avoid his 
extinction years later (Grech, 2001). After these big 
advances in the steam machines with Franklin and 
Faraday’s work, transform the mechanical energy 
to electrical energy is achieved, thanks to this it 
could be used like a source of power in industry 
(Grech, 2001). Thomas Alba Edison invented the 
incandescent light bulb and contributed to big 
advances designing batteries for the energy storage 
(Grech, 2001). England, France and Germany were 
the first countries in recognizing the profession of 
engineer, being a work executed by the most notable 
soldiers (Corchuelo, 2004). The technical advances 
of 19th century greatly broadened the field of the 
engineering and they introduced a big number of 
specializations. The United States made substantive 
technological developments with the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology -MIT- opened in 1865 
by contributions of the geologist William Barton 
Rogers; at the beginning only industrial sciences 
were thought, and then emerged several branches: 
aerospace, chemical, shipbuilding, roads, canals and 
ports, telecommunications, electrical, electronics, 
industrial engineering, geology, materials and 
information technology. The fast development of 
semiconductors for the electronics industry in the 
1960s, gave a boost to the materials science. In the 
late 1980s, fields of knowledge that were previously 
outside as genetic engineering and nuclear research 
appeared (Corchuelo, 2004). In America, the history
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of the engineering traces started from to the Pre-
Columbian period: into the Incas, Mayas, Aztecas 
constructions. In Colombia, in a lower degree, 
the constructions Chibcha and Tayrons culture 
were discovered; in all them were developed the 
numbering and mathematics systems more or less 
elaborated. In the colony period, the civil defense 
works, walls, castles and big religious monuments 
are associated to the engineering, also it was used 
to mines engineering, by obvious reasons (Rincon 
et al., 2010). Engineering then, answers to the 
world-wide needs and were opening fields in 
different disciplines.
3. The industrial engineering in the world
The industrial engineering attained a development 
in the textile industry with the invention of 
the mechanical spinning wheel in 1775 by Sir 
Richard Arkwrigthin England. Besides, he 
also created the first model of operative control 
system in factories to regulate employees’ 
production (Jimenez, 2008). Babbaje (1792-
1891) formed the analytical systems to improve 
the increasing operations and productivity in 
factories; but it was the need to change the way 
as those industries worked when the United 
States and Europe started the transformation. 
F. Taylor improved the methods of materials 
handling, he is called the “father of the scientific 
administration”. Harrintong Emerson defended 
the efficient operations and the payment of prizes 
by increasing the production. (Universidad de la 
Guajira, 2003). With the birth of the industrial 
engineering Federico Winslow Taylor’s findings 
were recognized and he is considered the father of 
the industrial engineering (1856-1915). He studied 
the human factor, the mechanics and the materials 
inside the production process; he developed a 
system based in the concept of task, reducing the 
dead times and the displacements in the United 
States of America; to this author is attributed in 
1903 the costs disposal and material fixing to 
improve the work; proposing the study of times 
to optimize the processes. In 1912 Henry Fayol 
considered as the father of the modern operational 
theory implanted two concepts: the principles of 
the direction and manage duties. Frank Gilberth, 
who was a bricklayer, devised a system to reduce
times: hiring personal to low cost; he also identified 
17 basic movements from human body which made 
the work planning an easier task. On the other 
hand, Barnes’ studies collaborated to decrease 
materials costs and employees’ fatigue, this method 
was used to improve the performance (Jimenez, 
2008). Also Henry Gantt changed the system to a 
method of economic incentives to the workers and 
foremen that showed to be more efficient that the 
others in the factory. In 1917 he implemented a 
method by planning aims previously fixed, which 
is known like the diagram of Gantt (Grech, 2001). 
In the thirties, Allan Mogensen developed methods 
for working simplification just establishing the 
term of “engineering of methods” used by H.B. 
Later, Maynar In1932 with the second world- 
war he promoted the term operations research 
(UNAM, 2001). The industrial revolution did that 
they recognized the concept of industrial process, 
contributing to big changes in the work handle in 
the companies, and with the implementation of 
methodologies close to the introduction of times and 
movements, establishing work standards to make 
the products, the planning of the processes and its 
systematization. Industrial engineering has evolved 
in different fields making important contributions 
in social, environmental and technological levels; 
providing sustainable development conceived 
like equity, competitiveness and sustainability 
process, based in ethical, cultural, socioeconomic, 
ecological, institutional, politicians, technicians 
and productive principles (Londoño, 2011; Vega, 
2013).
4. Birth of engineering in Colombia
Ortiz & Giraldo (2003) do a brief review about 
the beginning of the engineering in Colombia, it 
started in the Independence war, when Juan del 
Corral inaugurated in Medellín, in August of 
1814, the Academy of Military Engineers. This 
was the first Colombian School of Engineering.
The Franciscan school, nowadays Los Andes 
University, was the school base: young men 
initiated in letters, they received a military 
course that had six treaties; in addition, they 
learnt arithmetic, classical and analytical geometry,
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trigonometry and algebra; they would study 
military architecture, hydraulic and civil, artillery, 
geography, cartography, principles of the tactics 
and other subjects. According to the engineer 
Álvarez (2008) at the end of 19th century 
Colombia had hardly two hundred engineers, 
many of them formed in foreign universities. 
From 1881 to 1884 the School of Engineering 
worked as a dependency of the Ministry of War. 
In 1902, when the war of the One thousand Days 
finished, the faculty worked without interruption 
in the National University. In 1910-1935 period 
the Engineering and Mathematical Faculty of the 
National University of Colombia constitutes one 
of the most brilliant institution of its development 
until then (Hernandez, 2011). In 1935 there 
were some favorable commercial scales that 
detour the attention to the coffee growing; this 
situation articulated Colombia with the world-
wide market. The school of Mines in Medellin 
provided a skilled degree in engineering of 
oils, and the Bucaramanga and Cali universities 
initiated special courses of mechanical 
engineering and industrial engineering. In 1940, 
it was the Industrial University of Santander 
the one who formed professionals in industrial 
Engineering; for that reason, in 1958 Industrial 
University of Santander created the first faculty 
of Industrial Engineering. The Second World War 
in 1945 interrupted the arrival of raw material to 
Colombia; it was the University of Antioquia, 
the one who prepared engineers devoted to the 
production of these raw materials. In that way, 
in 1961 in the national University was created 
the Departments of Electrical Engineering and 
Mechanical Engineering, and in 1965 they 
incorporated the Department of Chemical 
Engineering, as the culmination of the process 
of academic and administrative integration 
made in the university. In 1969 the Department 
of Agricultural Engineering and in 1978 the 
Department of Engineering of Systems were 
created (Hernandez, 2011).
In 1966 the University of Antioquia promoted 
the diversification of the careers. They created 
Industrial Engineering in 1966, Metallurgist in 
1967. At the beginning of the decade of 1990 in
the University of Antioquia only existed the 
master degree in Environmental Engineering; 
afterwards they created specializations in 
Industrial Engineering and in Electronics, and the 
university supported the creation of the mastery 
and the doctorate in Chemical Sciences. Later, 
all the Colombian universities saw the need to 
prepare professional in this area and created the 
engineering careers: in 1961 The Andes University 
with a humanist profile, in 1968, the University 
of Antioquia. In 1972 the Distrital University 
Francisco José de Caldas, in 1974 the Pontificia 
university and technological of Colombia UPTC 
, in 1975 the Libre University, in 1977 the Valle 
University establish the training of this profession, 
in 1996 in Medellín a earthquake of the National 
University established the Faculty of Industrial 
Engineering, in 2003 the program of Industrial 
Engineering obtained the Register qualified by 
7 years, authorized by the Ministry of National 
Education by the resolution 3249 of 15 December 
of the 2003. In the university foundation of 
Popayán, the academic program of industrial 
engineering was born according to agreement 004 
of 11 October 1993 whose first promotion was in 
1999 (Gaviria, 2003; Hernandez, 2011).
The need of industrial engineering and its 
professionals, was linked to the birth of the industry 
in Colombia with everything and the problems of 
create companies in our country, Valero (1998) 
mentions that in the nineteenth century in the 
center of Colombia the industrial development 
was little; between 1881-1893 some advances of 
the industrial revolution on railway were made; 
period known as regeneration because of support 
measures of state. In 1858 the first exploitations 
of iron were made and it was installed an oven in 
the farm “ la pradera”; however efforts to create 
company were unsuccessful. Segovia & Navarro 
(1967) explain that between 1900 and 1930 it was 
created the company "Rayando papel" by Mr. José 
Vicente Mogollon who played an important role in 
the country's development because even in times 
of crisis as it was the war of the thousand days 
were founded321 publications from newspapers 
to magazines purchasing paper and ink to Mr. 
Mogollon; Lorenzo Codazzi worked with hydraulic
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energy acquiring equipment in the United States; 
the company "El Zancudo" was organized in 
Antioquia demonstrating the role of occupational 
health, efficiency and training of workers and 
mining technician; in 1875 was create the mining 
company of Antioquia; in Cartagena in 1891 
the first energy plant is born; in 1878 the first 
company of matches is created. It can be said that 
the formation of business in Colombia has played 
a decisive role in the development of the country 
and therefore in education forming professionals 
to cover this necesity. Raymond (1987) wrote that 
between 1907 to 1980 were performed in the region 
of Santander department agro-industrial projects, 
industry pioneer in yarn, manufacture of sugar, 
exports of coffee, rubber, leather cattle and leather 
goat , wheat harvest, production of chocolate and 
alcohol, but these attempts failed because of the 
bad roads, low productivity and high costs. Jaime 
Salazar Montoya spoke of the creation of the 
transport company; "Transport Salazar" a family 
business between 1918 and 2000.
In Colombia's economic growth began during 
the first two decades of the twentieth century. 
The development of the coffee economy, access 
to the economy of international credit, changes 
in economic policy, expanding infrastructure, 
rapid urbanization, demographic changes, the 
proliferation of a contingent of peasant masses 
and the beginning the industrialization process 
mark the mutations suffered by the Colombian 
nation on its way to modernization. The economic 
heritage of the nineteenth century and the 
geographical conformation of the country printed 
a regional character to the industralization, as 
recorded the experiences of Antioquia with the 
gold trade, Barranquilla with the development 
of the port, Bogota with trade and business and 
Valle del Cauca with the opening of the port of 
Buenaventura and the Pacific railway construction; 
expanding commercial networks (Dávila, 2003).
5. Industrial engineering and education
The education role is fundamental according the 
approach that students should receive specially in 
engineering. Nowadays, it is a profession which 
applies the knowledge of the basic sciences 
for the efficient use of the materials and nature 
strengths in order to satisfy the increasing needs 
of the humanity (Palm et al., 2012). 
The education in engineering has suffered 
important transformation processes: In 1088 and 
1167 education in arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, 
logical, music and rhetorical has a special 
emphasis; in the middle age the emphasis was the 
cartography and the development of areas related 
with bridges construction, tunnels and roads;. In 
the renaissance navigation was the knowledge 
which prevailed (Lockard, 2010). Later, the 
industrial revolution started with the development 
of the steam machines in 1780, but even if the 
education was given in basic areas, the profession 
of engineer was not determined. This appeared in 
1818 where the schools of civil engineering were 
created, then, because of the needs of construction 
buildings, railroad tracks, bridges, machinery, etc., 
the mechanical engineering has its origins. Then, 
England, France and Italy concentrated on military 
requirements and some universities focused their 
education on these branches. The modern university 
arises in Berlin in 1809 where they joined the needs 
to teach the basic areas of the engineering and the 
investigation. Later in the United States of America 
under the concept of the British Empire in 1802 the 
military academy of west initiated the education 
based on engineering of the construction, where it 
involved the students in partial works to know the 
existent reality. In the Statement of the Sorbonne 
in 1998 it was expressed the will to create an 
European space devoted to the superior education. 
Later, through the Statement of 19th June 1999, it 
was defined measures for this ambitious process of 
convergence. Following, in Prague life was defined 
as an essential element to improve European 
competitiveness, social progress, the creation of 
equality of opportunities and life quality. It defines 
the active role of the universities, institutions 
of higher education and the students in the 
development of convergence process, as well as the 
creation of the quality insurance systems and the 
institutions for certification and accreditation. In 
2005 the Conference of Bergen evidenced three 
big changes that must to exist: 1.The creation of
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closer relationships between university education 
and investigation incorporating doctoral studies as 
a connection between them; 2. the development of 
social dimension improving equality conditions 
to access to higher education 3.to facilitate to 
the students financial resources and international 
mobility. The paper of the industrial engineers 
is to establish a balanced combination of a 
solid scientific and technical training; different 
technologies and disciplines applied inside the 
economic -business and social-humanistic areas, 
the understanding that comes from the reality 
of the industrial state (from a wide and global 
perspective) and the capacity to interrelate 
different disciplines that take part in complex 
systems (create, develop and manage), they do 
professional reasons to be. (Canos et al., 2009).
With the evolution of the university in Europe, and 
the increasing need of organizational engineering, 
a professional with a solid mathematical training 
and statistical was born, people who knows what 
the subjects are, what are they use, and how put 
them in practice in a company through the operation 
of management tools, with the purpose to allow 
to offer products and services in lower time with 
more productivity, quality, reliability and possible 
efficiency. Also people able to diagnose problems, 
and analyze them (Marín et al., 2009). In Europe 
the Engineering of manufacture is associated with 
the industrial engineering in the training programs 
in a lot of universities. However, the introductions 
of subjects such as statistics, probability and 
investigation of operations have given place to 
the courses reduction or elimination especially 
when the Japanese products began to control 
the market. For this situation the government 
and the universities of the USA answered by the 
promotion of the engineering of manufacture. 
Courses related with the processes of manufacture, 
systems of manufacture engineering, design of 
systems, and production have been added to the 
studies plan of engineering (Elsayed, 1999). The 
industrial Engineering arose in Peru with the 
aim to increase the quality and the productivity 
of companies. The current industrial engineer is 
multidisciplinary, professionals are able to face 
challenges because of its scientific training and
management, and this career is very versed 
with information technologies. These capacities 
give to professionals versatility, flexibility on 
their decisions. In the last years the design, the 
creativity, the investigation, the development, 
and the innovation have been the aim to keep 
improving the career (Palm et al., 2012).
Eliot et al. (2011). In the current vision of higher 
education and the future aims are: the learning 
centered in the active paper of the students, the 
mobility and the relevance of postgraduate and 
doctorate, accreditation, professional associations, 
and professional contextualization. For this, is 
necessary to accomplish an education change 
based in the school and learning, Lyou educational 
systems considers students’ integral learning is 
more than information transfer. Then, with the 
purposes to achieve and optimal educational 
process itwill be guaranteed that students will 
work in suitable academic environment, it will 
consolidate technical skills, merits, attitudes and 
abilities (Zambrano et al., 2009) and in the future, 
students must be prepared for an engineer career 
that will be more related with the services than 
manufactured goods (Wei, 2005).
Strategies for infuse global perspectives in practices 
and programs of industrial engineering have to be 
included; the next engineers generation must to be 
prepared to confront the challenges of the future. 
(Jackson et al., 2010) In other words, the programs 
based in the traditional studies plan that requires 
the assistance in the school are less attractive for 
the possible students. The potential impact on 
traditional campuses that do not meet the challenge 
is not pleasant to contemplate it (Felder et al., 2000) 
it is recommended strengthen the engineering, by 
the construction of the concept of sustainability that 
involve concepts of processes design and products 
for the future (molecular transformation), thoughts 
of systems, including complex systems, uncertainty, 
analysis of the life cycle of products, identification 
of systems limits for balances of energy and 
matter, thermodynamic and its relation with the 
sustainability, renewable energy, creativity, team 
work, communication, work in moral and ethical 
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leadership, and stand out the engineer like an social 
agent (Mihelcic et al., 2008; Marín et al., 2009; 
Byrne, 2010; The Royal Academy of Engineering, 
2007; Moloney, 2010; Mulder et al., 2010; 
Newberry, 2004; Drake et al., 2005; Rydhagen et 
al., 2011; Hsu, 2004; Cordoba, 2007).
Dávila. (2016). talked about of the systemic 
approach of organizations "the interacting groups 
and the organization as a whole can be viewed 
as systems or subsystems "; implemented in 
engineering schools, especially in industrial 
engineering programs. Systems analysis, provides 
a framework in which operational research 
techniques and their applications are used; linear 
programming courses and other operations 
research techniques were offered for the first 
time in the program of Industrial Engineering at 
the University of the Andes in 1966; operational 
research was included in the Magister program 
in industrial engineering in 1968 and was 
discontinued ten years later. Since then "systems" 
(systems approaches) to "systematize" (electronic 
data management) were confused.
In 1972 in the course "Organizational Dynamics" 
the book of Katz & Kahn clarified the differences 
in it. He talked about too of the link with 
Taylorism, whose central purpose is to optimize 
operational productivity .The research does not 
reduce maximizing productivity maximizing the 
productivity of human labor; seeks to optimize 
operations (not exclusively human or human-
machine) of the conceived precisely as a system 
organization. The pioneers of operational research, 
Churchman, Ackoff and Annoff, expressed since 
1957 as follows: Operational research is the 
application of methods, techniques and scientific 
instruments to problems involving the operations 
of a system to provide optimal solutions for 
the problem. The connection of operational 
research with systems theory is that this used 
basic assumptions of systemic approach. The 
application of operations research techniques must 
be used as a reference in systems analysis thus: 1. 
Formulation of the problem: 2. Construction of 
a mathematical model to represent the system in 
question; 3. Derive a solution from the model; 
4. Test the model and the solution derived from 
that; 5. Being useful to deal with engineering 
problems.
The new information and communication 
technologies (ICTs) are basic tools that should be 
incorporated into education as a support for the 
students training. Activities such as discussions 
on-line, by which students continue to develop 
new knowledge and skills with the help of 
computers, internet, email, chats, text messages, 
where there are no space and time limitations 
between teacher and student, This learning is 
known as e-learning (Contreras et al., 2011).
Now, learning that combines education through 
traditional classroom activities with the non-
contact technology, is known as b-learning, it 
is a result of traditional education and the need 
to improve forms of learning in order to student 
appropriate the knowledge more easily (Ramirez, 
2010; Coaten, 2003).One of the responsibilities 
of universities is to train students with quality, 
specifically industrial engineers must use 
technological tools in order to link theory with 
practice, solving needs of today's industry, this is 
theory of constructivism (Janjai et al., 2012; Miller 
et al., 2015) raised a virtual factory model that can 
be modified to students facing real situations that 
they can change, making the student closer to the 
actual experience. This tells us that there is a basic 
need to combine traditional teaching methods and 
teacher’s role, with changes in teaching strategies 
with the help of new technologies.
6. Profile of the industrial engineer 
The industrial engineer must to have an 
interdisciplinary and integral training, where 
the knowledges of administration, economy, 
operations research, production, social and human 
factor, environmental and computer knowledge 
are combined allowing professionals to have a 
wide vision of the society which they manage; The 
engineer may direct his perspective to the strategic 
processes planning, observe his performance and 
take decisions; use the new technologies for the 
companies, for the investigation and the education,
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having as basic values like: honesty, ethical and 
professionalism performance. The engineering is 
a creative process; it is a profession in which the 
knowledge of the natural sciences, the mathematics 
and the industrial technician, acquired by the 
experience and the practice, applies to transform 
the matter and the sources of energy in the nature, 
with the purpose to design, implement, keep or 
operate systems, teams, products or processes 
that answer a definite need. Also they add that 
the engineer is an economic agent that works in 
profit of the humanity, under restrictions given 
by the technological context, economic, social 
and ethical (ABET, 1988; National Academy 
of Engineering, 2004; The Royal Academy 
of Engineering, 2007). The 21st century has 
characteristics that differentiate it of the previous. 
In effect, it is affirmed that the competitions and 
knowledges that schools of engineering develop 
are not sufficient to perform in today's world 
(Natarajan, 2009; King, 2009; National Academy 
of Engineering, 2005).
7. The industrial engineer in the future
In the current society the future of the industrial 
engineers is knowing and applying the acquired 
knowledge and adapt it to a society that is in 
continuous process of change, where the vision 
to advance to these challenges is the priority, 
recovering the professional ethics that gives the 
freedom to fight against corruption processes that 
do not allow a society progress.
The apparition of new technologies due to the 
competition continues the development of new 
processes and products. New practices must 
be presented like management and work, new 
organizational structures new complementary 
form and new methods of decision (Gonzáles, 
2004).
According to Biles, the industrial engineering 
can group its roots in three big interacting groups: 
the engineering of production, the administrative 
engineering and the engineering of human and 
ergonomic factors (Rojas, 2010). The business 
functions as we know them today: research and
development, engineering of design, manufacture, 
marketing, and customer service, will be so highly 
integrated that combine integral and virtual way to 
respond into the market(Hernandezet al., 2011). 
If the students do not learn to appreciate elements 
about the science such as its history, its relations 
with the culture, with the religion, with different 
visions of the world, the trade, its philosophical 
suppositions (epistemological, ontological and 
methodological ideas) then, the opportunity for 
the science and the engineering to enrich the 
culture and the human lives is wasted (Matthews, 
1994; Byrne, 2010).
It is important that the engineers have an integral 
education that allow them involve the solutions 
impact of engineering in a social and global context. 
The engineers require knowing the nature of the 
engineering, optimizing a big variety of requests 
and technical, practical and political restrictions 
in the design of solutions (ABET, 1988). In this 
same road, a new definition of engineering that 
includes a new concept has opened a big step: 
the sustainability. The Engineering Council, 
of the United Kingdom, has identified six 
principles of sustainability: 1) contribute to build 
a sustainable society in the present and the future; 
2) apply professional and responsibly to perform a 
leadership role ; 3) do much more that fulfill with 
codes and the valid legislation; 4) use resources in 
a efficient and effective way; 5) look for multiple 
visions to resolve challenges of sustainability; and 
6) handle the risk, so it minimizes adverse impacts 
in the population and in the environment (Bogle et 
al., 2010).
Industrial Engineering must be more participative 
regarding the institutions represented by 
universities, the companies with their determining 
factor in society and the welfare of the population, 
in order to achieve a common goal; quality and 
social responsibility within the productive 
framework.
8. Conclusions
The engineering processes started from the birth 
of the humanity proving solutions to different 
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situations that confronted humans. The industrial 
engineering has played a basic paper in the 
development of the society in the measure that it 
satisfies the needs in different fields like the social. 
Economic, official, financial, environmental and 
computer.
The engineer of the future confronts a society in 
constant change with new disciplines, that have 
to be integrated with technological processes and 
has to fight in a competitive society recovering 
the ethics and professionalism, elements that 
give freedom to combat the corruption that do 
not allow the progress in our society. The future 
industrial engineer has to interacting in three big 
fields to know: the engineering of production, the 
administrative engineering and the engineering of 
human and ergonomic factors supported by the 
new technologies.
The Industrial Engineering has to be more partici-
patory with the institutions represented by the uni-
versities, the company with its determinant factor 
in the society and the welfare of the population, 
with the purpose to achieve a common aim: qua-
lity and social responsibility inside the productive 
frame. The programs of Industrial engineering in 
the prospect have to integrate the content of the 
engineering with the humanities, science and te-
chnology. Knowing the involving environment it 
manages and comparing it with the external envi-
ronment with his own experiences.
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